NOVEMBER LILLIES

My November Lillies know that November will be here tomorrow and are looking their best for the occasion. They're gorgeous this year, and along with the Jacarandas that are all over town looking magnificent with their purple canopy I'm reminded that the year is coming to a close. I always think of exam time at this time of the year when the Jacarandas flower, but it's nice not to feel the pressure of exams any more.

I know the girls from Gatton are busy, busy, busy preparing for another great craft show. Do try to make it if you can. I'm sure you'll not be disappointed. It's on Friday 6th & Saturday 7th November which is only next week. The weather has been lovely too, so I'm hoping it will stay that way. The venue is air-conditioned though, so just in case the hot weather sets in, it will still be comfortable inside.

SUPPORTING "CHRISTMAS IN THE COUNTRY"

What is it about TV reality shows that makes it compulsive viewing for me. I hate them and love them all at the same time. Last night it was "Survivor" and the only good thing I can say is that I had another rag rug finished at the end of it. This one is like Joseph's Coat of Many Colours, but I sure hope I don't end up down a well over it! It will be at "Christmas in the Country" in Gatton on 6th & 7th November. Admission is only $6.00 and if you go, you'll not only be supporting Peace Lutheran Primary School, you'll have a great time and most likely get a good start on your Christmas shopping.

I don't know what kind of lillies these are, but they are gorgeous. Sam brought them for me last week and when she gave them to me they were just buds. Every day we've had another beautiful bloom open up. I love fresh flowers in the house.

MY BROWN RAG RUG STORY

I don't show you every rag rug that I make or boredom would set in pretty quickly, however this is one I particularly want to share. As you know I love the earthy country colours, but each rag rug takes a massive amount of fabric, so just to get the quantity I need, I have to source it from Op Shops or wherever I can find large volumes of fabric for as little cost as possible. It didn't take me long to discover that not too many people buy lovely earthy coloured sheets or doona covers or at least if they do they don't very often donate them to Op Shops when they're finished with them. When I decided to make a brown one, I went through my ever growing basket of fabric scraps and put aside all the ones that had brown tonings, and proceeded to rip them into narrow strips before joining them all together. Now let me tell you this job sounds easy (and it is) and fun, and it is fun too at least for the first half hour, or maybe even for the first 2 hours. Some of them were very small lengths, so I spent a whole day just making my big rag ball before I could even begin the crochet process. I really want to make another rag rug out of my red scraps, but I suspect I'm going to have to do a whole lot of forgetting about how long it takes before I tackle that one. I am going to part with my lovely brown one, (unless of course I get lucky and no one wants to buy it) but this is one that I'm going to have to say a very special good bye to when the time comes.

JUST TESTING

Caught in the act this morning. I know he's been desperately wanting to test out my latest pile of rag rugs, and this morning he couldn't resist any longer. He thinks I've employed him to be my quality control person (yes he thinks he's a person). Lucky for me they passed his inspection, and he assures me he had four clean feet.

I've been rag rugging along every chance I get so I've got some to take to Christmas in the Country Market in Gatton on November 6th & 7th. Liesa from Handmade Heaven in Ipswich also has some for sale in her shop.

THE RIVENDALE COLLECTION

Sally Giblin from The Rivendale Collection has some gorgeous designs and I now have her patterns available on my website. Not only are the designs just adorable she has given them really cool names too. These three are called Flowers & Me, Sugar & Spice and Ric Rac & Blooms. Along with her cushions, I'm having trouble deciding what I want to make first. They'd make excellent gifts with Christmas time not too far away. Check them out here.